Do justice.

A
series of essays in the Episcopal Church

Geoff Curtiss and Marge Christie, both colleagues on the Newark
deputation, have pointed out to me a dangerous mistake on page 847 of the
Book of Common Prayer:
"Question: What response did God require from the chosen people? Answer: God required the chosen people to be faithful; to love justice, to do mercy, and to walk humbly with their God." That's not what Scripture says:
"He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8)

God is calling us to do justice and love mercy. It is easier to love justice than to do it; it is easier to be merciful
than to love mercy. -- Lutibelle/Louie

The Bread of Life. A homily at the ordination of
The Rev. Peggy Bryan by the Rev. Ernest Cockrell

The 1991 Sexuality Debate at General Convention. By
Pat Waddell (El Camino Real) with input from Jane Garrison+ (Vermont) -- the first two lgbt deputies to come out at General Convention. They were already out to their dioceses before they were elected. Note: this is a pdf file and requires a pdf reader, such
as Adobe.

Sermon for Affirmation Scotland -- 23 May 2010 . By The Rev. Kelvin Holdsworth, Provost of St. Mary's Cathedral, Glasgow. If
Kevlin Holdsworth were a part of the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian), he
would be gagged and not allowed to preach this sertmon, but he's a member
of the Scottish Episcopal Church (Anglican) and able to live into the
claim that Presbyterians make but deny to themselves, namely, "Man's chief
end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever"!

Following the Money. By Jim Naughton, Diocese of
Washington. "When the General Convention of the Episcopal Church meets
next month in Columbus, Ohio, a small network of theologically conservative
organizations will be on hand to warn deputies that they must repent of
their liberal attitudes on homosexuality or face serious consequences. The
groups represent a small minority of church members, but relationships with
wealthy American donors and powerful African bishops have made them key
players in the fight for the future of the Anglican Communion...."

What's in a Name? by The Rev. Canon Mark Harris:
On the Matter of the Archbishop of Canterbury naming, suggesting or
otherwise initiating the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and
Parishes
Note:
On September 17, 2004, Canon Harris corrected/updated this earlier (see the bottom half of
the document).

This Old Creaking Ship of Faith is Struggling
with Things That Matter. A Series of Reports to BELIEFNET.COM from General Convention.
By The Rev. Mark Harris. This is one deputy's summary of the unfolding of General Convention
offered lest we forget that people of good will worked hard in their
struggles with the issues, one another, and did what they were called to
do - make decisions.

Nate Knows Nada, the Blog of Nathan Paxton, a Ph.D. candidate in
Government at Harvard. With his permission, eavesdrop on his reflections.
Young people are watching our convention; it behooves us to listen to them.

In taking this action and ignoring the considerable reservations of
the Church, repeatedly expressed and most recently by the Primates,
the diocese has gone significantly further than the teaching of the
Church or pastoral concern can justify and I very much regret the
inevitable tension and division that will result from this
development.

Young children define words by giving examples of their use. If you
ask young children to define the word cooperate, they give examples
that do not fit that word, but instead fit the word obey. The
reason is obvious: it's because adults around them keep telling them
to cooperate, when the adults have no interest in simple cooperation,
and demand instead obedience.

The same newspeak is going on here in Williams' comments. The Diocese
of New Westminster has not ignored the reservation of the church.
It has listened, taken it into account, and then proceeded as it does
best. The rest of the church has a right to be heard, and heard they
were. But our structures do not require New Westminster to obey the
Primates' Meeting.

Rowan Williams has thus greatly confused the two. The Primates'
Meeting doesn't even have the right to demand to be heard (unlike the
ACC or maybe Lambeth); if they want to be heard they must stop the
silly seclusion and secrecy attached to the meeting. But regardless
of whether we must listen to the Primates' Meeting, we have listened.

Ironically, the Primates' Meeting does not listen. They shut
themselves up behind closed doors, proudly announcing that it's just a
private conversation, and then issue magisterial statements from on
high, which the Archbishop of Canterbury now thinks must be obeyed by
each and every diocese of the Anglican Communion.

But listen and obey are different things. Williams seems to think
that if you don't obey, then you must not have been listening. This
is a dangerous thing to say. We are now on the second Presiding
Bishop of the Episcopal Church who talks a nice line about the
inclusion of gay people, but when push comes to shove, doesn't really
speak up for us. (Remember Lambeth and his abstention? My bishop
at the time,
Tom Shaw, SSJE, did speak up.) I believe we are now
witnessing the slide of Rowan Williams into the miasma of selling us
out to preserve a facade of unity.